Bruised and tainted by his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the Labour peer still has admirers – and the drive to go again
The BBC’s interview with Peter Mandelson had offered ample evidence of the Labour peer’s “formidable political brain”, according to Louis Mosley, UK head of the US data firm, Palantir Technologies.
An indefensible error of judgment had been made by Mandelson, Mosley said in a panel discussion with Laura Kuenssberg after the airing of some of the 30-minute interview on her Sunday morning political show, but “he is a masterful interpreter of Trump and we now live in a world where that man will determine much of what happens, and we need people who can be that translation function”.
The capacity of Lord Mandelson for network building is undoubted. The former Labour cabinet minister’s fairground ride of a career suggests it is both his superpower and his kryptonite.
He was withdrawn last September as US ambassador after emails emerged detailing his close relationship with the billionaire serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. They revealed that he had advised his “best pal”, as he described the American in 2003, to “fight for early release” on the eve of his sentencing in 2008 for soliciting prostitution and procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution.
